Occasionally fails to restart, slightly puzzled.

[RJW90]

Hi everyone,

Once again a bit puzzled by my landy. It's a 1988 90 with a 2.5td (1989 I believe) engine put in it. Has been working fine, starting fine and everything. Then one night I stop and turn the engine off then about 10 mins later went to start it again and there was nothing, no lights on my dash no click from the relay or attempt from the starter or anything. Oh **** I thought, anyway got towed home and parked it up for the morning. Went down in the morning and put my key in the ignition and I had lights on my dash but no click from relay or attempt from the starter motor. Slightly confused, I put the charger on the battery. Charged for a little while (replacing the charge lost from lights being on as I broke down at night) then tried again and she started straight away. I've had an electrician have a quick look at it but doesn't know what is causing it. Has anyone had anything similar or know what might be causing it? My guess is ignition switch or possibly relay but don't understand why no lights came up on the dash.

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[discomania]

Electrical anyway - ignition switch connection etc... or BAD earth somewhere.

 

[Bayden_uk]

kinds have the same problem. but i have life to everything when it comes to electrics. but when it comes to starting the engine i get nothing. starter motor doesn't even make a sound. but i get a warning light on the dash. figured it was my starter motor so now im just waiting for pay day

 

[discomania]

CCW tools will sell you a GOOD starter motor - look for Reduction Gear Starter Motors on the left of their page.

 

[Moondog62]

I had a similar thing on my 200tdi recently, it was caused by a dodgy quick release battery connection, have since replaced it with a normal connection and have had no problems since. (well at least with my electrics)

 

[danchapman2k2]

mine done that and didnt have any umph turned out a be a crap bttery and earth

 

[Bayden_uk]

CCW tools will sell you a GOOD starter motor - look for Reduction Gear Starter Motors on the left of their page.

cheers buddy

 

[defenderlee]

usually bad battery earth mate mines an 85" defender and it occasionally fails to start an no lights on dash, check condition of earth clamp and follow to the block check for corrosion and the usually blueish green build up, clean it up and should be right as rain

 

[danchapman2k2]

usually bad battery earth mate mines an 85" defender and it occasionally fails to start an no lights on dash, check condition of earth clamp and follow to the block check for corrosion and the usually blueish green build up, clean it up and should be right as rain

same i have a 1985 defender and the same problem

 

[RJW90]

Ok so the saga continues. Started fine first thing. Pulled it forwards about 20yards so passenger could get in and I turn it off as we weren't going to leave for about half an hour. Jump in half an hour later and go to start her and I only have the battery and oil lights come up like normal then turn the key to preheat and I get nothing. All lights on dash go out and no preheat and if I try to start it anyway I get nothing.

 

[danchapman2k2]

Bad Earth fella - or is it a new landrover? as in you have not replaced the battery? i had a crappy caravan battery in mine so the starting power was ****e!

 

[RJW90]

Bad Earth fella - or is it a new landrover? as in you have not replaced the battery? i had a crappy caravan battery in mine so the starting power was ****e!

To be honest the battery may be about 4 or 5 years old now. But normally it works fine and then just randomly (at the most incontinent times) it decides not to work. Going to check earths tomorrow. Problem is there are so many to check haha.

 

[blue beasty]

Definately sounds like a dodgy connection.....as said check and clean up terminals, earths, feed to fuse box and fuse connections.....could be ignition switch as well.

Had an intermittant fault on mine and it can be a b*gger to diagnose because even with a meter you can only check the system when it's not working.

Mine turned out to be a corroded feed to starter dropping voltage but I had no ignition light problems......good hunting

 

[RJW90]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Will start hunting tomorrow if I get some time. Have to admit I do hate electrics. Never did understand it really.

 

[danchapman2k2]

my guess would be the main earth to the chassis from the battery or the battery or terminals. The problem is you have used all the power at full charge from the battery to start it and move it forward a few feet meaning its used some of its charge. If the battery is dieing then that means full charge is only half charge due to its age. and you basicly killed it so that with a bad earth can create problems. Go with big things first Earth and connectiongs to battery etc then go from there!

 

[defenderlee]

as i said before the earth is a usual flaw but check connections to the fuse box mine did something like the intermitent start and there was a thick green wire that had worn and split, at first i thought it was a main battery fuse but i would sometimes still get dash lights so more likely to the starter just have a check mate

 

[RJW90]

Turned out to be my ignition switch had a little camp fire behind the display so now I've changed that and got a new battery as my old one wasn't holding a charge very well.
But now my fuel/temp/clock aren't working and my new battery isn't charging. If I changed my old battery (510 amps) for the new one at 550 amps would this cause the problem with not charging?

 

[Oldseadog]

No. The increase in battery capacity does not affect anything. It just gives you more cranking power, and allows you to leave your lights on longer without the engine running.

How do you know that the battery isn't charging? If you have a multimeter you should get between 13.9 and 14.5 at the battery with the engine running.

 

[RJW90]

No. The increase in battery capacity does not affect anything. It just gives you more cranking power, and allows you to leave your lights on longer without the engine running.

Thanks for the reply. Guessing I'm going to have to find out what's putting such a drain on the battery. If its the alternator causing the problem again that will be the 4 in the space of a year 😡 not to happy about that.

 

[Oldseadog]

Once again if you have a multimeter, check the resistance between the battery -ive and the engine block. It should read below 3 Ohms. If it's more than that, you are still suffering from poor earthing.